EGS - Second Life
by Lazarus.357
Summary: This story is based on the works of Dan Shive. A person from a world much like our own, crosses into the EGS world and gains magical power to both heal and fight. El Goonish Shive is a comic about a group of teenagers who face both real life and bizarre, supernatural situations. It is a comedy mixed with drama and is recommended for audiences thirteen and older.
1. Chapter 01 Bad Day in Black Rock

Chapter 01 Bad day in Black Rock

**Authors Note**

OK, first up, this is a Fan Fiction based on the works of Dan Shive, and the cartoon "El Goonish Shive."

If you've never read it, I assure you, it is worth checking out at or if your browser just deleted that, egscomics DOT net (replace the DOT with a period)

Legal Disclaimer: Disclaimer: "All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of Daniel Shive. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment not monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author."

For the EGS fans, the events here will coincide with the comics posted up until November 15, 2013. I'll try to stay true to the canon before that, but since I have no idea where Dan is going with this storyline, I'll go Alternate Universe at that point.

Oh yes, and one more thing, from the bottom lines at the comic site:  
"El Goonish Shive is a comic about a group of teenagers who face both real life and bizarre, supernatural situations. It is a comedy mixed with drama and is recommended for audiences thirteen and older."

**Chapter 1: Chapter 01 Bad Day in Black Rock**

July 15, 2014

Jason Sykes drove along the highway, whistling along with Freddy Mercury belting out "Fat Bottom Girls". The song ended, and Freddie abruptly switched to the gentle crooning ballad of "Who wants to live Forever."

Jason agreed with the song. At fifty-seven, the retired Air Force Officer was wondering if there was any point to living any longer. He wasn't exactly suicidal, and he did want to see his grand children grow up, but that was the only real reason he had for existence. He was twice divorced, and had pretty much given up on the idea of ever finding that "right woman".

It was a hot day for Buffalo, even here on the I-190 as it followed the bank of the Niagara River. He cursed under his breath as he came up on the usual construction delay at the intersection of I-190 and I-290.

Suddenly, he heard the screeching of brakes and a loud crash. He saw the back end of a small car ahead of him, flip up into the air and crash back down. He pulled his minivan to the side of the road and popped the hatch. A volunteer fireman and EMT, he had been rescuing people for over thirty years now.

With a skill born of long practice, he pulled on his Nomex coveralls and kicked off his sandals, slipping his feet into his tall fireman's boots. He pulled the Nomex Balaclava over his head, and locked the clasps on his turn out coat. Finally, he threw on his one non-regulation piece of gear – a full face motorcycle helmet. He had learned long ago, that the long bill of a normal fire helmet, good for keeping embers off your neck in a structure fire, was not a good thing in crash-rescue.

He ran towards the scene of the crash, cursing his old age and the heat. It was 94 degrees and humid, and in the heavy gear, he was already sweating profusely. He hoped –desperately! – that he could pull this off without falling over from heat stroke.

The scene was an all too familiar one. The Construction had narrowed the four lanes of the highway to one lane. Obviously, some dipstick in an Audi had followed the outside lanes all the way to the bottleneck, intending to cut in at the front of the line.

He had misjudged his timing, and had broadsided a Prius, flipping it over, and then, in turn, he had been rammed by a minivan behind the Prius.

Jason noted that everyone seemed to be egressing the Audi and the minivan OK, but the Prius was overturned and there was a woman frantically beating at the windows.

Worse, the minivan's fuel tank had split, and the fuel was pouring onto the hot asphalt and vaporizing. The massive batteries on the Prius had taken some damage, and were arcing and snapping badly.

Let that gasoline vapor go to those sparks, and the whole scene would turn into a fuel-air-effect bomb.

He slid to his side alongside the door of the Prius and yelled to the woman, "Back up, I'm going to smash the window!" He took his crash axe from the holster of his coat, and applied the "glass-breaker point" on the handle in a smooth, practiced motion.

The woman scrambled out of the car, and then turned around.

"Run!" shouted Jason, "this car is going to blow up any second!"

"My baby!" she screamed.

"OK," thought Jason, as time slowed down for him, as it often did in stressful situation. "Run!" he screamed. "I'll get the baby. I'm in protective gear, you aren't."

She ran to safety as he dove back into the car.

The child was in a car seat, but the quick release buckle was jammed. Jason brought up his axe again, and used the seatbelt cutting blade on the handle to release the child. He tucked the squalling infant into his coat, and slid out of the car again.

He stood up with an arm around the child, and ran to the right shoulder of the road, where the woman was standing.

That might have been the end of it - a simple rescue, but unfortunately, this was New York.

There is always some idiot who decides that what they are doing has priority over anything else going on, be it a construction delay or an accident.

An impatient driver, in a hurry to get to the bar before Happy Hour was over, pulled onto the shoulder of the road and gunned the engine, spraying gravel behind him.

As Jason stepped onto the shoulder of the road, he heard the roar of an engine and a horn blaring. There was no time to react, as the speeding car struck him, flipping him over the car.

It felt like he was in slow motion, and observing it from outside his body. The bumper snapped his leg bones as he slid over the hood of the car. He could feel ribs breaking as he slid over the hood. His left shoulder broke as it impacted the windshield, and he left a bloody smear as he slid over the roof and trunk. He slammed headfirst into the ground behind the car, splitting his helmet, and his skull..

He landed on his back, and somehow, Praise the Maker of All things! – the infant was still squalling, so it was still alive.

He smelled the odor of gasoline, and realized he was lying in the puddle of gasoline. Worse, he could not move.

Somebody ran up and snatched the baby from him. His balaclava had slipped, and he could not see through the eye holes – and he could not move his arm to fix it.

He was in more pain than he had ever imagined – and he was no stranger to pain.

"There is no pain." He said to himself, repeating the mantra his sensei had taught him so long ago. "There is only fear of pain."

He heard the sharp snap of an electrical short from the Prius, and then the soft "whump" as the gasoline vapor caught fire. Even with his protective gear, he would burn to death in this puddle of gasoline, unable to move.

"Well," he thought. "It might not have been a great life, but it was an interesting one." He wondered what the next turn of the Cosmic Wheel would bring him.


	2. Chapter 02 Welcome to Moperville

**Chapter 02 Welcome to Moperville**

July 15, 2003

Officer Allen Sheasley was on routine road patrol along the expressway when the call came in.

"4E9, 4E9, there is a report of a person on the shoulder of the highway, milepost 357."

"Roger, dispatch, 4E9 responding." He didn't bother to put on the lights or siren, since it was less than a mile ahead of him.

He saw what looked like a black bundle of rags on the side of the road, and sighed.

"Yeah, a body" he said to himself, "more likely a bag of trash that fell out of truck."

He pulled over to the side of the road and turned on his lights.

As he got out of the car, he smelled the odor of burning meat. As he got closer, he realized it DID look like a body. It was a fireman's boots, coveralls and coat, and everything looked heavily burned.

He looked around. There was no sign of any fire. "Had it been burned somewhere else and dropped here?" He wondered to himself.

Then the body coughed, and bright red, frothy blood appeared at the blackened mass that might have once been a face.

"Holy crud!" he exclaimed. "What happened to you?"

The figure only twitched and coughed up more blood.

He grabbed his microphone. "Dispatch, 4E9, I have a badly burned fireman here. Request immediate EMS transport."

"4E9, Dispatch, is there a fire at that location?"

"Negative Dispatch." Replied Sheasley. "No fire, just a badly burned man that looks like he's in critical condition and left by the side of the road."

"Roger, 4E9, Ambulance on the way."

/./  
**July 18, 2003 Moperville General Hospital Intensive Care Unit**

Doctor Harvey Winn looked at the man in front of him. "Edward, I have no idea what's going on here, but this looks like a case you need to look at."

Edward Verres, Former Head of the Midwestern Special Situation Investigation Task Force, looked at Dr. Winn quizzically, his brushy moustache quivering. "How so, Harvey?"

"Well, to start out with, three days ago, we found a badly burned man by the side of the expressway, dressed in a fireman's outfit."

"That gear should have protected him from being burned." Said Edward.

"It looked as if it had been subjected to extremely intense heat." Replied the Doctor. "It was almost as if he had been stuck in a fire and literally cooked inside his suit."

"Ugh." Said Edward.

"Further," said Dr Winn, "it looked as though he had been struck by a car, before that – both tibia and fibulas, as well as his left femur, were smashed as if he was struck by a car moving at high speed. He had four broken ribs, both of his lung were punctured, his left clavicle was broken, with multiple fractures of his left radius, ulna and humerus…and just to top it off, he had a badly fractured skull."

"How is he still alive?" marveled Edward.

"I DON'T know." Said Dr. Winn in frustration. "There is no way this man should be alive with half the injuries he had." He shook his head. "Heck, I've seen people die from FAR less than this man's injuries."

From behind the glass wall of the ICU, Edward stared at the motionless figure on the bed. Tubes and wires snaked out from under the sheets, and he could see the lines of the ECG trace making it's way across the screen.

"We did a tracheotomy to keep him oxygenated – he was still breathing, despite a dual hemothorax." Said the Doctor. "We had to do an external jugular cannulation – he had no usable veins in his extremities for IV therapy."

"OK" said Edward, "but why call me in?" he waved at the man in the bed. "He's a tough old bird." He said, "but every once in a while you get a guy whose body just won't quit, Harvey."

"We looked at the Identification in his wallet, Edward." Said the doctor, as he handed it to his friend. "Take a look and see what you think?"

At first, the FBI agent looked at the contents quizzically. He first noticed the currency.

"Since when is George Washington on the one dollar bill?" he said.

"Oh, it gets worse." Said Doctor Harvey, "Look at his credit cards"

"Well," said Edward, "this is certainly bogus." He held up a Card. "Bank of America went out of business almost ten years ago, but this card is current."

"I checked all the credit cards in his wallet – they are to non-existent banks."

"I could see this sort of scam thirty years ago." Said Edward, "but when you just scan a card and link up to the database, there's no way you could use these."

"Yes." Agreed Doctor Winn, "and the military ID card says he is one Jason Sykes, a retired Air Force Major."

"OK" said Edward. "So what?"

"I made a call to the Defense Records Agency. They had a Jason Sykes on record, with this serial number, but he was a Navy Corpsman, who died in Beirut in 1983." He added, same birth date as this guy, and the picture on file looks a lot like this guy."

"So…he's a fake." Said Edward.

"What kind of a fake carries around counterfeit money that is so obviously counterfeit?" asked the Doctor. "Who has credit cards that are totally unusable, and why claim to be a dead man?"

"Ah." Said Edward.

"I don't know what exactly a "Special Situations Task Force" does, Edward." Said the Doctor. "But a lot of odd things have been happening around here lately, and this looks like another one."

"Thanks Harvey." Said Edward. "I'll get my people looking into this."

"Take your time, Edward." Replied the Doctor, jerking his thumb at the figure on the bed. "This guy won't be going anywhere for awhile."

**July 20, 2003 Moperville General Hospital Intensive Care Unit**

Rebecca Owens never watched the news, especially the local news. The human wreckage of the car crashes, accidents and fights would be waiting for her in the ICU when she got to work.

The patient in unit five was an example. One Jason Sykes, Caucasian male, Age 57, with multiple broken bones and …thermal injuries. He wasn't so much burned as he had been baked inside his protective gear. The smell of gasoline had lasted for days in the ICU.

It was incredible that the man was alive…but Rebecca was not sure that modern medicine was doing him any favors. She had been changing the dressings over the ruined sockets of what had been his eyes, when something strange happened.

The eyes had been cooked and burned in his skull, and the doctors were planning to remove the eyeballs as soon as he was strong enough for the operation. The protein compounds had been coagulated by the heat of the fire, and had turned a glossy white and shrunk into his skull, much like the white of a hard boiled egg.

As she removed the dressings today, she noticed something incredibly strange. She called another nurse over to confirm what she saw…

"Betty, look at his eyes." Said Rebecca in a shaky tone. "Do you see what I see, or am I hallucinating?"

Elizabeth Getty had been an ICU nurse for almost fifteen years, and she had never seen anything like this. Sykes' eyes were clearing! "Get the dressings back on those eyes." She told Rebecca, "I need to page Doctor Winn."

She had his cell phone number, and called him directly. "Doctor Winn, this is Getty up in the ICU."

"Yes, Nurse Getty" he said calmly. "What's up?"

"Our burn patient – Sykes?"

"Oh yes," he replied. "I'm in ophthalmic surgery, discussing when we want to remove his eyes."

"You need to come up here and take a look first, Doctor." Said Elizabeth. "It looks to me as if his eyes have resumed normal size, and they are starting to clear."

"WHAT?" he said. "You're kidding."

"In all the years we've worked together, Doctor Winn, do you ever remember me joking about something like this?"

"No," he replied, "you are the consummate professional at all times when it comes to patient care. You have a wicked sense of dry humor with the staff, though."

"I am not kidding, Sir." She replied icily. "It appears that his eyes are regenerating."

"Mother of Jesus!" he said softly, not as a curse, but a prayer. "That sounds like our boy there has some kind of miracle going on."

"Multiple miracles" replied Elizabeth, a devout Catholic. "His burns are healing far more rapidly than I expected, also."

**July 21, 2003 Moperville General Hospital Intensive Care Unit**

"Edward, you have to see this to believe it." Said Dr Winn. "In thirty years of medicine, I've never seen anything like this." He squinted at his friend. "Is this guy an escapee from one of your projects?"

"I wouldn't have left him here if I thought he was." Said Mr. Verres evenly. "Not that I have any – ahem!" he pointed his fingers to emphasize his words, "-projects that involve burning humans or any other creature alive."

" I don't know Edward, but look at him!" The Doctor pointed to unit five, where Jason Sykes was sitting up in bed and drinking some water. They had removed the tracheotomy and the respirator the night before, and he was now on an oxygen mask. His left shoulder was still immobilized, as were everything below his hips, but he was now sitting up in bed and talking.

"He still tires easily, Edward, and much of what he says doesn't make sense, but - "

Edward Verres finished the sentence for him. "Five days ago, I was amazed he was alive at all."

"Exactly" agreed Dr Winn. "I'm tempted to call him "Lazarus" or something like that – but even Lazarus did not come back from being a crispy critter like Jason did."

"It is rather remarkable." Said Mr. Verres, putting his hand to his face in thought. "Are his fractures also healing as rapidly as his burns?"

"We X-rayed them this morning." Said Dr. Winn. "If I didn't know better, I'd say those films look like he was about a month post fracture, not a week." He held up the X-ray films to a light box.

Ed Verres had seen a lot of X-ray films in his time, and he could interpret what he saw very well. "Hmm" he said, tracing a thin white line on the films of the lower leg. "I can see where you reset the tibia and fibula, but I've seen bigger fracture lines on ten year old football injuries."

"Yes indeed." Said Dr. Winn. "Look at these films we took on admission, and compare them to today."

"Harvey," said Ed. "I don't want to tell you your business, but I hope you've cautioned your staff not to talk about this case."

"Oh, yes," said Dr Winn. "HIPAA considerations aside, the last thing this fellow needs is attention from the media hounds."

"Thank you." Said Ed. "I don't know what is going on, but I think you're right. My office needs to keep an eye on this case."


	3. Chapter 03 Life on the Cosmic Wheel

**Chapter 03 Life on the Cosmic Wheel**

**July 30, 2003 Moperville Orthopedic Clinic**

The buzz of the Stryker saw was annoying, but Jason was looking forward to having his cast off.

"There you go." Said the technician. "You OK, buddy?" he asked Jason.

"Just glad to get that thing off." Smiled Jason. "Thanks."

"No problem," said the technician as he smiled back. "How long were you in it?"

Jason looked at the technician and smiled. "I really don't know" he lied. "I was unconscious when they put it on me, and I've lost track of time since then."

"I hear that more often than you'd think." Said the technician. "When do you get the one off your shoulder?" he asked.

"I dunno." Replied Jason, as he swung his legs out of the cast. "Soon, I hope."

The technician pulled the bottom of the cast away, and Jerry swiveled to put his legs over the side of the examining table.

"Be careful." Cautioned the technician. "Your leg muscles will be weak at first, and you'll need physical therapy, since they've been immobilized for awhile."

"Got it" said Jason. "I was a Corpsman in the Navy," he laughed. "I'm used to telling that to patients, not doing it myself."

The technician laughed with him. "I know what you mean, brother." He said. "I was a Corpsman Second when I got out."

Jason extended his hand. "Corpsman First," he said, "made it just before I decided I'd had enough of the Navy."

"Corpsman First?" said the Technician, cocking his head quizzically. "You must have been a fast burner." He shook his head. "I'd have taken you for a teenager."

Jerry laughed. "Must be the high temperature skin peel I had." He said as he touched his face. "I did eight years in the Navy, enlisted right after graduation."

"Well," said the technician, staring at him. "you look a LOT younger than that."

"Heh." Said Jason. "Flattery will get you nowhere, shipmate, even if it is a don't ask, don't tell Navy."

"Sheesh." Said the technician sourly. "I didn't mean it like THAT."

Jason laughed again, to take the sting out of it. "Didn't think you were, but it's been a long time since this crusty old seadog was confused with a teenager."

He slid himself into the wheelchair that Nurse Getty had brought down for him. "Not the first time I've been in one of these, either." He said. "Too bad my arm is in a cast, or I'd just wheel on back to the ward.

Nurse Getty came back from the phone call she had to answer. She looked at Jason in his chair. "My goodness, that was fast." She said, "and you got him in the wheelchair with no trouble?" she asked the technician.

"Heck, M'am." Said the ortho technician. "I didn't have to do much at all." He laughed. "I think this young fellow is full of energy."

Jason laughed back. "I've been laying on my back for too long." He said. "Enough rest, I want to get out of this place as fast as possible."

They returned to the Intensive Care Unit. Jason no longer really needed to be there, but it was now a matter of recording data and telemetry.

Dr Winn was waiting in Unit Five. "Jason, I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine, Edward Verres."

Jason put his hand out and smiled. "Let me guess, Mr. Edward Verres of the FBI Special Situations Investigation Task Force, right?"

Mr. Verres was nonplussed for a second, and then smiled. "OK, that starts to make things MUCH clearer."

"Whoa" squeaked Jason. "I was being a smartass, Sir." He shook his head. "This is going to take a moment to process, please." Both men started to ask questions, but Jason held up his hand to stop them.

"Please" he begged, "Hold on, and let me get this straight." He stared at the men. "I was a 57 year old man, burned to death in a car accident last week, and now I'm living in a comic book?"

"A What?" said Mr. Verres, raising an eyebrow.

"I mean," said Jason, "either I'm having some type of strange hallucination-type dream as I die in that fire, or the Everett "Many Worlds" Theory of Quantum Physics is, indeed, correct."

"Many Worlds" Theory?" asked Dr. Winn, raising his eyebrow.

"Yes," said Jason, "simply put, Dr. Hugh Everett of Princeton, in his Doctoral Dissertation, theorized back in 1957, that the implications of Quantum Physics is that there is not just one reality that exists from the collapse of a waveform function, but that there is an infinite set of realities formed by every quantum possibility."

"Huh?" said Dr. Winn. "I'm sorry for saying that, young man, but you totally lost me after you said "Quantum Physics".

"I understand" smiled Jason. "The Copenhagen Interpretation postulated that there is only one "main stem" of time, and, like Schrödinger's Cat Experiment, once you "open the box", then there is only one reality – in which the cat is either alive or dead."

The two men stared at him. "Dr. Everett noticed that the unitary, deterministic dynamics alone decreed that after an observation is made each element of the quantum superposition of the combined subject–object wave function contains two "relative states": a "collapsed" object state and an associated observer who has observed the same collapsed outcome; what the observer sees and the state of the object have become correlated by the act of measurement or observation. The subsequent evolution of each pair of relative subject–object states proceeds with complete indifference as to the presence or absence of the other elements, as if wave function collapse has occurred, which has the consequence that later observations are always consistent with the earlier observations."

"O – K." whistled Mr. Verres. "I think I have finally met my match in the art of exposition. Were you a theoretical physicist?"

"Uh, no" smiled Jason. "Just a science geek that liked to know stuff." He grinned impishly, "My degrees were in Medical Technology, Electrical Engineering, with a Master's in Management, and a Master's in Education that it looks like I won't be completing."

Dr Winn smiled back. "Have you looked in a mirror lately?" he observed. "I think you've got plenty of time to get a few more degrees."

"How's that?" said Jason. He actually hadn't looked in a mirror for a few days. When he had first awakened the burn keloids had made his face a hideous mask, reminiscent of Freddie Kreuger.

"Right now, my medical opinion is that you appear to have a biological age of seventeen, not fifty-seven."

"Say what?" exclaimed Jason.

Mr Verres held up a small book. "Apparently, young man, you've gone through what we call an "awakening" – you've been given the ability to cast spells." He opened the book and looked at it. "Apparently, your first one has been the ability to heal serious injury" he looked at Jason. "Quite apparently, the spell seems to regard natural aging as a serious injury."

Jason stared at his right hand. "I'd noticed a lot less pain than I usually have – I had supposed you folk had been keeping me doped up."

"Eh." Said Dr. Winn. "On the contrary, you haven't taken any pain medication in two days."

"That's rather a neat trick, if I do say so myself." Pronounced Jason.

Mr. Verres smiled. "Your second spell allows you to heal others." He looked at Dr. Winn, "I predict you'll be a rather popular fellow in this world."

"I would prefer that it doesn't get to be TOO widely known." Said Jason. "I seem to remember something in the Bible about Jesus being constantly badgered by Lepers and other sick folk, once word got out that he could heal them."

"Ahem." Coughed Dr. Winn delicately. "I would expect the AMA would be rather upset." He stared at Jason. "On the other hand, there might easily be times when we might want to call you in as a consultant."

"If I understand all this correctly, I'm going to need some source of income in this world." Observed Jason. "My military pension, my house, my IRA – all of those are in the other world. He patted his hospital gown. "In this world, I am essentially penniless."

"I'm amazed that you're not more upset at this whole thing." Observed Mr. Verres.

"Eh." Said Jason. "I suppose, on some level, I am crying hysterically and getting into a fetal position." He grinned. "On the other hand, I've walked in some dark and deadly paths over the years, Gentlemen." This time his smile was a feral grin. "I've learned that unnecessary emotions and stupidity can get you killed faster than anything."

Jason shook his head. "I learned that one when I was eight years old, gentlemen. I'd have never lived through THAT episode if I hadn't kept my cool." He stared intently at Mr. Verres. "I think we need to talk sir – and I think we need to talk in a more secure location than this." He nodded his head toward the nurses' station, where personnel were trying not to be caught staring. "There are several things you," he emphasized with his fingers, "quote, Need-to-know, unquote"

Mr. Verres shook himself like a man trying not to shiver. "That's right. You had a retired military ID card in your wallet." He said. "I should know better than to take beings at their appearance, but you LOOK like a teenager."

"Ayup." Agreed Jason. "That's putting it mildly, Sir. I had a TS/SCI Clearance in that life, that is Top Secret/Secure Compartmented Information."

Mr. Verres nodded. "When you talk like that, you sound like an Air Force Officer." He said. "Although you look the age of my son." He smiled. "Actually, you DO rather remind me of Tedd."

Jason blanched. "That's another thing we need to talk about, Mr. Verres…and if I understand things correctly, we might need to avoid a Temporal Paradox, as well."

"Eh?" said Mr. Verres, as he inclined his head quizzically.

Dr. Winn cleared his throat. "Ahem. Gentlemen." He said. "I would say that your discussion is outside the purview of this medical facility." He smiled at Jason. "And, much as I like your company, Mr. Sykes, I think this ICU bed would be better served by using it for someone in need of it?"

"Well put." Laughed Jason. "Is there some way I can get a pair of pants and maybe a shirt?" he said plaintively. He looked at Mr. Verres with a hangdog expression. "I don't know if I can presume upon the FBI to say, put me up for the night, but I'd rather not sleep under a bridge tonight."

"I think we can arrange suitable accommodations." Laughed Mr. Verres.

"Good." Replied Jason. "I've had quite enough of that, thank you very much." He shook his head. "Although I suppose this city might have homeless shelters."

"I think I can do better than that." Laughed Mr. Verres. "Follow me, Jason."

"Lay on, McDuff." Quoted Jason. "And curst be him that first cries "Halt"!"

Mr. Verres smiled broadly. "I think we're going to get along quite well, Mr. Sykes."


	4. Chapter 04 Magic is real unless declared

**Chapter 04 Magic is real unless declared**** Integer**.

Mr. Verres produced a bag with underwear, pants, and a poncho to cover the cumbersome shoulder cast.

"You should be able to get that off in another few days." Said Dr. Winn.

"Thank God it's still warm out there." Said Jason. "If this was December, I'd freeze with this thing on."

The check-out was already expedited. All Jason had to do was ride the wheelchair down to the Hospital Van, where a Para-Transit van with a wheelchair lift was waiting.

"I could walk" protested Jason.

"Look, you just got your legs and hips out of an immobilizing cast this morning." Advised Mr. Verres. "Let's take it easy until we're sure you can walk."

"Sure." Groused Jason.

The first stop was the local Federal Building, where Mr. Verres wheeled him into the offices of the Special Situations Task Force. Jason noticed the metallic paint that both brightened up the otherwise drab office space, and also probably provided a Faraday Cage. He also noted some shadowy sigils in the paint, probably Warding signs to keep out magical intrusions.

The first stop was a conference room, where three people were waiting.

Jason smiled. "Let me guess – Agent Wolf," he said reaching out his right hand to the tall, dark haired man. Agent Wolf looked a bit surprised.

"And the redoubtable Agent Dr. Cranium." He said nodding to the red-haired lady. "You are as beautiful as I pictured you.

The two Agents looked at Mr. Verres. "How does he know us, boss?" said Agent Wolf plaintively.

To the blonde woman at the table, he also nodded. "And the redoubtable Uryuom assistant to Mr. Verres, whose name I have never learned."

"You know about Uryuoms?" she asked with surprise.

"Yes, m'am…or being." Smiled Jason. "I'm not at all sure about the proper honorific, but I've notice that you seem to prefer the shape of a female human, even when you're in your Uryuom form."

"My name is Virginia," she said, reverting to her partially Uryuom form. "Ginny to my friends." She smiled.

"Thank you, M'am, and I hope that I can earn your friendship." Said Jason.

She smiled back, and Jason found the buxom blond form with the antennae and sandwich-plate sized eyes to be far more alluring than he might have thought possible.

"OK," said Agent Cranium. "Who are you and how do you know so much about our operation?"

"That's what we're here to find out." Said Mr. Verres. He closed the door and locked it, then waved a wand at the lock.

"I'm assuming that the room is now secure from eavesdropping, aside from your own recording devices?" asked Jason.

"Yes." Said Mr. Verres. "Now, would be a nice time for explanations."

"Yes" sighed Jason. "It is."

"First up, I need to know how accurate my information is." Stated Jason. "This is all from a web comic, from a fellow named Daniel Shive."

" A Web Comic?" said Agent Cranium. "What? How?..."

Jason re-explained the "Many Worlds Interpretation" of Dr. Everett's work in theoretical Quantum Physics.

"OK." Said Agent Wolf, "but if these separate Universes cannot communicate, how do you know about THIS world? And how are you here?"

"I can, well, sort-of, answer the first question." Said Jason. "We often see writers coming up with fantastic stories, and people ask them "Where do you get these ideas?" and they answer "Well, it just comes to me."

Jason shrugged, "What some people have postulated is there CAN be information transfer across the Universes, on some occasions. Don't ask me HOW that happens, I don't know."

"And I suppose you don't know how you wound up here, either?" asked Agent Wolf.

Jason shrugged expressively. "Don't ask me the HOW…apparently, it happened."

"Yes" said Mr. Verres, "it certainly seems to – and you've gained access to information that you should have never known about."

"Let's see what is real or not?" said Jason. "I mean, for instance, if this is August of 2003, shouldn't you be working Paranormal Diplomacy, and Not heading up a Special Situations Investigation?"

"Actually," smiled Mr. Verres, "Arthur decided that, since you seemed to pose no immediate threat, and appeared to be a visitor from another dimension – AND Dr. Harvey chose to call me into it personally, I should stay with the case."

"We're simply here as Observers, in case it turns out that Special Investigations DOES have a stake in this." Said Agent Cranium.

"AND…that is another example of information that I cannot understand that you have." Put in Agent Wolf.

Jason grinned widely. "OK, let's start with this" He looked at Mr. Verres, "has Grace Sciurdae, aka "Shade Tail" shown up yet?"

Mr. Verres sat back, his eyes wide behind his glasses. "Yes. Yes she has." He said, somewhat stunned. "A little over a year ago."

"Excellent" said Jason. "And Damien – he's dead and Vladia, Hutch and Guineas are in protective custody as they learn to make their way in society?"

Mr. Verres' expression began to take on a glazed look. "Yes."

"OK – so Ellen Dunkel and Grace have been attending Moperville South, along with Justin Tolkienberry and your niece, Nanase Kitsune?"

"Yes." Said Mr. Verres, "How -?"

"Tedd, Elliot Dunkel, Susan Brown and Sarah Pompoms all attend Moperville North?" asked Jason. "And this is August, so they are all beginning their senior year of high school?"

"Why, yes." Said Mr. Verres. His expression was beginning to resemble a pole axed steer.

"Some things you might not know yet – Adrian Raven, the History Teacher at Moperville South – the one that is Half-Elven, half-Human, - his mother, Chaos Pandora Raven – has been marking humans with magical marks of power – without their knowledge."

"Say WHAT?" exclaimed Agent Wolf.

"You know about the mark Susan has?" asked Jason, "And you found a Mark of Power on that odd fellow that summoned the fire beasts – Dexter, I think his name was?"

All three Agents had stunned expressions.

"Both Justin Tolkienberry and that mousy girl Rhoda – the one that is Grace's History tutor – have Marks of Power, that I believe they are unaware of." Stated Jason. "I will happily submit to Fast-Penta, Sodium Penethol, or a lie detector polygraph. What I have told you is what I believe to be true."

Agent Cranium snapped her fingers. Not that it would seem all that strange, but the glowing sparkles were a nice touch. Jason felt a – presence – invade his mind for a second, and then withdraw.

"Nothing quite so crude as THAT." She said, "Mr. Sykes, I can tell that you are telling the truth."

"The truth as I know it." Corrected Jason. "For all I know, I'm in the next Universe over from what Dan Shive has been seeing. Some of what I read may be untrue here."

He looked at them – "Since you are no longer in charge of the Investigations team, and Mr. Arthur has come out of retirement, I would also guess that the business with Abraham also occurred here, and you almost killed him, correct?"

"Yes" said Mr. Verres, his face torn with emotion, "I do not know what came over me."

"What came over you, Sir, was a being called Magnus – a powerful wizard forced out of his world and into the Astral Plane. He can interact with Immortals, and he can influence humans. The key out of the Astral Plane, for him, is – and I still don't understand this – he has to be in the presence of Elliot Dunkel when Ellen zaps her brother with her transformation."

"What does that have to do with me killing Abraham?" asked Mr. Verres.

"I'm not sure, except that, for some reason, Chaos Pandora Raven wanted you to be discredited and removed from your post."

"We didn't know about the Marks of Power on Justin and this Rhoda girl." Said Agent Wolf.

"- But we can check that out easily enough." Said Agent Cranium.

"Finishing his sentences for him already, Agent Cranium?" said Jason slyly.

A shocked look came over both Agents' faces. "We've – uh – just worked together for some time." Said Agent Wolf with a faint blush.

"Yes, that's it." Said Agent Cranium, with a definite blush.

"Your secret is safe with me, Agents." Smiled Jason. "Far be it from this old man to get in the way of young love."

"Young love?" said Agent Wolf. "What are you talking about, kid?"

Jason looked at Mr. Verres with some surprise. "You didn't let them know that I'm actually 57 years old?"

"Say what?" said Agent Wolf with a stunned look. "You don't look 57, and you're not using an illusion spell…"

"No." said Jason. "My appearance, for reasons I don't quite understand, is that of a teenager." He explained. "But, trust me on this – or use your truth spell – but, truly, I was born in 1957, and died in 2014 – then showed up here in 2003." He put up his palms in a shrug. "You guys are the magical experts, you tell me what happened."

"Wow…" said Agent Cranium. "You're telling the truth." She said, slightly awestruck.

"I'm sure you've seen more amazing things than an old geezer that looks like a teenager." Teased Jason gently.

"So, as an initial debriefing," said Mr. Verres, "I think we've all had a lot of shocks today, and you are probably tired, Mr. Sykes."

"Yes." Agreed Jason. "I seem to tire easily, and I feel like I'm on low blood sugar."

"The cafeteria here is surprisingly good." Said Mr. Verres.

"Thanks" said Jason. "But I'm still broke, and I don't have a place to sleep tonight."

"I'll stand you to dinner," said Mr. Verres, "and I need to talk to some people, Mr. Sykes." He said with a bit of a grimace. "I won't promise what I can't deliver, but I might have some good news for you tomorrow."

"Thanks greatly." Said Jason. "Can I bed down somewhere here?"

"We have some apartments for people in protective custody." Said Agent Cranium, "nothing fancy, think of a tourist Motel."

"Good enough." Said Jason. "I've slept worse places." He looked at Mr. Verres. "If you can loan me a laptop, I can start writing everything I can remember about this world."

"If you could write out that explanation of the Multiple Worlds Interpretation," said Mr. Verres, "I'd appreciate it." He shook his head. "It may exist in this world, but I've never heard of it."

"It does, however, explain much" said Agent Wolf. "We have evidence of alternate worlds, but nobody here has figured out why, as far as I know."

"I'm not sure why that is," said Jason, "and I'm no Theoretical Physicist." He smiled. "I'll do my best, Sir."

"I'm sure you will." Said Mr. Verres. "I'm sure you will."


	5. Chapter 05 Job Offer

**Chapter 05 Job Offer**

The cafeteria was fine, and certainly better than the hospital food. Jason compared to some of the DFAC Chow Halls he had been in, and it was better than most.

Agent Wolf gave him a laptop, and a LAN connection in his room, then left.

Jason looked over the laptop carefully. It was rather bulky, used a 3.5 inch floppy, had 2 Meg of RAM and a 500 Megabyte Hard drive.

At first, he thought they'd foisted off some ten year old piece of junk on him, but it was clean, and as he checked through it, everything was dated "2003"

There was no "Microsoft" logo, and the "PeachSoft" operating system strongly reminded him of the Windows 3.0 interface. The laptop was just as just as slow and balky as anything from the early Nineties.

It still used a DOS shell for most applications.

But, the Harvard Graphics Presentation software was pretty much as he remembered PowerPoint 3, so he moved along on working up a presentation on the Multiple Worlds Interpretation, and what he could remember of Quantum Physics.

*-*  
The biggest problem was typing with only his right hand. He worked well into the night, and then slept for a few hours, showered and dressed in the morning.

At ten o'clock, an agent he had not met before, who didn't offer her name, conducted him to the conference room he had been in the night before. He hooked up the laptop to the projector, and went over his presentation for spelling and grammar errors.

Mr. Verres led another man into the room, whom Jason recognized instantly.

"Mr. Arthur." He said, putting his hand out. "I am glad to see you."

The Head of Paranormal Investigation, Arthur J. Arthur, looked a bit startled. Mr. Verres laughed. "I told you, Arthur, he knows things he has no business knowing."

"Yes." He replied, "Indeed."

"All right, Gentlemen." Jason said, "lights" – the unnamed agent put out the lights.

Jason launched into the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Physics. "From what I understand, Gentlemen, your world is superficially like the one I knew, but with significant differences."

"How so?" asked Mr. Arthur.

"In this world, you had the same two World Wars that we did, but, to take one example, Iosif Stalin was assassinated when he ordered the Red Army Purges of 1938-39."

"What difference did that make?" asked Mr. Verres.

"The Red Army was much better prepared to fight the Wehrmacht, when it poured across the border in 1941." Said Jason.

"Huh." Said Arthur. "What happened in YOUR world?" he said. "In this world, the Germans kicked the snot out of the Soviets."

"It was MUCH worse in my world." Replied Jason. "The Germans got to the suburbs of Moscow and all the way to Stalingrad."

"Where's that?" said Mr. Verres.

"It's the city of Petrograd in the here-and-now." Replied Jason, "Losing that would have meant the loss of the Baku Oil Fields, and a new lease on life for the Nazis."

"Heh." Said Mr. Arthur. "And I am supposed to believe Heydrich still didn't manage to win, with that advantage?"

"Oh, no." said Jason. "In my world, Adolph Hitler didn't die in that plane crash in December of 1941."

"Huh?" said Mr. Verres.

"No." said Jason, "Hitler lived until 1945, as did Stalin, and the War was slightly less bloody, but the Germans were totally defeated by the Allies."

"In this world, however, the Germans never declared War on the US, after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and the Americans fought the Great Pacific War, while the British, French and Soviets fought the Germans." Jason shrugged – "and Mussolini brought Italy into my World War II, while he stayed neutral in THIS world."

"The net result," said Jason, "was a world that didn't have an ugly "Cold War" between the Soviets and the West, and your science is about a decade behind the world I lived in – no impetus to develop better electronics to build better weapons."

"Ugh." Said Mr. Verres, "I don't think I like the world you came from." He grimaced. "No offense."

"None taken," smiled Jason. "The next major factor seems to be arrival of the Uryuoms in 1947, and the development of a highly developed magical technology in this world."

"Amazing." Pronounced Mr. Arthur. "Why do you think this happened? Random chance?"

"Well," said Jason. "What I am hypothesizing, is that, to go back to the Many Worlds Interpretation, an analogy might be the pages of a book. Each Universe is a separate page, and each page cannot interact with another – or, at least, that's what we thought."

"Your presence shows that." Said Mr. Arthur.

"Exactly" agreed Jason. "One thing, Mr. Verres, have your people discovered that the level of ambient energy is increasing in your world, ever since you were able to measure it?"

"We've only been able to manage to measure it for the last twenty years, but yes, the level is rising, on average, and particularly high in some localities, such as the area around Moperville."

"OK, Gentlemen, now I'm going to make a scientific wild- A$$ guess, a SWAG as we call it. I'm thinking that, if you accept the model of the Multiverse as pages in a book, whatever generates Magical Energy is a source that moves though the multiverse – and it is a point source."

"What does that mean?" asked Agent Cranium.

"I've often said that legends and myths can often be found to have a seed of truth to them." Jason shrugged. "In my world, there are legends of magic, and a magic using civilization that imploded millennia ago."

"OK" said Mr. Arthur. "So what?"

"You don't have the same legends as my world." Answered Jason. "I'm thinking that, the source of magic is a moving point, source, and it is receding from the Universe I came from, but moving closer to YOUR universe."

Mr. Arthur massaged his temples. "This is giving me a headache." He pronounced.

"Eh." Said Jason. "It's quantum physics." He smiled. "You got to make a SAN roll."

"A what?" said Agent Wolf.

"The reference is to a game called the "Call of Cthulu" – it is similar to "Magic-the Gathering." Said Jason. "It is a card game, mixed with dice."

"I'm…familiar with it." Said Mr. Verres dryly. "my Son plays it."

"One of the things that makes "Call of Cthulu" different from "Magic – the Gathering" is that when you meet some of the monsters in "CoC" , you have to make a SAN roll with the dice, to see if you keep your Sanity."

"OK," smiled Jason, "So…a lot of things get strange in Quantum Physics, and as a friend of mine likes to say, it isn't that you're going crazy, you just need to make a SAN roll."

"Ah," said Mr. Arthur, "I think I'm beginning to see what you mean."

"Let me take this in another direction, folks." Said Jason. "You're aware of the idea that energy cannot be destroyed, but it can be converted to other forms of energy, or even matter."

"OK" said Mr. Verres, fascinated.

"We have the electromagnetic spectrum, which is quite familiar to both universes," said Jason, but you also have a gravitic spectrum, and a Chronos Spectrum."

"A gravitic spectrum and a what spectrum?" said Mr. Arthur.

"Electrons are the basis of the electromagnetic spectrum," said Jason, "Gravitons are the basis of the Gravitic Spectrum, and Chronitons are the basis of the Chronos, or Time Spectrum."

"Time as a form of energy?" said Mr. Arthur, his eyebrows almost bending together. "Are you crazy?"

"No, you just have to make a SAN roll." Laughed Jason. "You're not crazy-"

"It's just Quantum Mechanics." Said Mr. Verres ruefully. "I get it."

"Thing is," continued Jason, "the Math would indicate that there are 11 dimensions to space-time and six energy spectra."

"Say what?" said Agent Wolf, his eyes wide. "Six Spectra?"

"Yes." Said Jason "The three we know about, and then you seem to have another one – let us call it the Magic spectrum, although I'd hesitate to call the basic unit the Magicon…it doesn't sound right."

"Wait," said Mr. Arthur. "The MAGIC spectrum?"

"Exactly." Nodded Jason, "What you've already demonstrated is that magical energy – manipulation of Magicon, if you will, can be converted to other forms of energy, such as electromagnetic – as in the case of casting lightning bolts or fireballs, or gravitic energy – as in levitation."

"Wait, what?" said Agent Cranium. "We can't do such things with electricity."

"_Au contraire_, Dear Lady." Nodded Jason – "We routinely convert gravitic energy – as in falling water – to drive turbines to create electricity. We can convert the potential chemical energy of fossil fuels to gravitons, which then make for kinetic energy that can be used to turn generators for electricity – or other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum."

"Ouch" said Mr. Arthur. "I think I understand what you're getting at." He shook his head. "What you're saying makes perfect sense with what we've observed of magic – I've just never thought of it this way."

Jason smiled. "it is a radically different way to conceive of magic, but – Occam's razor – the simplest explanation that fits all the known facts is usually the correct one, no?"

Mr. Arthur turned to Mr. Verres. "OK, I see what you mean." He turned back to Jason. "OK, you're on the payroll as of today."

"Wait, what?" said Jason with surprise.

"We'll put you on as a GS-5, in a work-study program at State University here in Moperville." Said Mr. Arthur. "You will study theoretical physics, with a concentration in quantum Physics."

"OK" said Jason, with a stunned expression.

"In addition, we may call upon you to use your healing spells – this is not exactly a safe line of work." Said Mr. Arthur with a grim expression. "I've read your spell book – we might need you to heal an Agent who might otherwise die."

"Sounds good." Said Jason. "Where do I sign?"

"No hesitation?" said Mr. Verres, with his head tilted quizzically.

"Hey," said Jason, "I spent 28 years in the US Military of my world." He laughed. "And – if I could have afforded, I would have gone for a degree in theoretical physics. If you're offering to pay me to go to school and study in a field I've always wanted to work in, well, not just yeah, but f**k yeah!" he exclaimed.

"Good" said Mr. Arthur. "Then that is settled."


	6. Chapter 06 Back to School

Chapter 6: Back to School

**_Author's Note; Sorry this took awhile, but my hard drive went kerfuffle, and I lost Chapter 6 before I could post it. By the way, if you are not familiar with EGS Universe, I have tried to explain some of this world as I go along. If you need more explanations, please let me know._**

**_Also – just to answer a PM comment that others are probably wondering, most of this story will occur in the six month time period between "Here there be Whales" and "Identity" – but, other than Grace and Tedd – maybe – most of the EGS "Gang of Eight" will not really be aware of Jason's existence._**

**_The things that happen in this story will mostly be events that occur "off-screen" from what is in the Web comic._**

**_While I plan to try and fit this story in with Dan's updates as he posts them online, I will probably be going AU pretty soon._**

**_But – back to the story!_**

**_Eh, one more thing – I use the _****/|\****_ mark between paragraphs to denote a change of venue and/or time in the story. One of my favorite authors – John Ringo – tends to write his stories in a way that you come to the end of a paragraph, and then the next paragraph is an entirely different set of characters in a different place or time…which often drives me nuts, because I have to go back an re-read to figure out where the shift happened. If it wasn't for that fact that his stories are so engrossing, I would probably throw his books across the room in his frustration. Since I use a Kindle, that could get expensive.  
_****/|\  
**

The next few days passed in a whirl of activity. Jason had his cast removed, got a new identity, became a Government Employee of the FBI, and registered for college at Moperville State University.

"Wow" he said as he looked at the fake documents. "These look very real."

His control officer looked at him. "They are only "fake" in the sense that they contain fake information. They were all properly issued by the proper government Agencies."

She smiled, "If anybody starts REALLY seriously perusing them, they will run into a code that will tell them that you are in the Federal Witness Protection Program – and they will get a visit from the US Marshal's Office to ask why they are interested in you."

"Ah, so" said Jason. "Thank you, Miss Kaley."

That was one of the things that made this whole episode seem like some sort of Drug induced hallucination.

His FBI control officer was a young blonde woman with a degree in Forensic Psychology.

Her name was Kaley Cuoco.

She looked at him sharply. "You're doing it again."_  
_

"Sorry, sorry," he laughed. "It's just that, in my world, you were not an FBI agent."

"Yes," she said crossly, but then smiled. "Puh-lease, do not mention this to anyone. I could not STAND the ribbing I would get if they found out that my doppelganger was a famous comedienne in another universe."

"Your secret is safe with me" he said piously.

"So," she said, returning to the material at hand, "I've gotten you a lease in the same apartment building I live in. It's quite near the University – I suppose you'll want to get your own car, when you get a bit more of your paychecks, but for now, it is easy walking distance."

"Sounds good" he said.

"You are enrolled as a freshman, but your cover has you as being a 22 year old Navy Veteran. We've already set up for you to take the CLEP (College Level Entrance Program) through DANTES (Defense Activity for Non-traditional Education Support)."

"Excellent" he said. "With a little review, I should be able to CLEP out of some of my freshman courses and get right to the meat of it."

She smiled. It was such a nice smile. "Well, if you had a Master's in that other world, you should be able to do the math and science pre-requisites."

Jason smiled back. "I've been tutoring my niece and nephew in Algebra and Trigonometry, and my son in Calculus…those don't change from Universe to Universe. American and World history, on the other hand…" his voice trailed off.

/||\

A few days later, Jason's head was aching. He had gone through the CLEP manuals for American History, and World History, and the differences from his own timeline were boggling.

For all that the world LOOKED very much the same; the Time Line had incredible differences.

But, he paused to reflect, compared to a few months ago; he had life by the tail. To complain was to tempt fate – and he was perfectly happy with things as they seemed to e shaping up.

College started a week later, but Jason had spent that week ensuring that he knew where his classes were, seeking information on his Professors, and generally scoping out the situation.

He remembered the confusion of his first trip through college - and he intended not to repeat that.

Kaley was registering for her own classes, as well as tying up a lot of her previous paperwork at the Special Situations Investigation Task Force.

She knocked on his open door one night and stuck her head in. "How's it going, Jason?" she said.|

He had stuck several sheets of butcher paper to the walls of his apartment, and had mapped the campus, his class schedules and the best routes.

He had also set up some PERT Charts on various subjects.

"Hi, Agent ." he said absently. "Just getting this semester planned out."

She walked over and looked at his charts. "Sheesh," she said, "looks like you're planning a war."

"Five P Rule, Agent" he said absently, "Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance."

She raised an eyebrow. "I think by this time, you could bring yourself to call me Kaley."

He looked at her with a hooded expression that she could not interpret.

"Quite right Agent -" he corrected himself " Kaley" he shrugged. "If I keep calling you "Agent", well, that might raise too many questions."

"Exactly." she said, "and I might be your case officer, but it's not like I'm that much older than you."

_"Au contraire_, milady." he smiled. "You need to remember that, when I look at you, I see a very pretty woman, about the age of my step-daughter."

"You didn't mention a step-daughter before." she said with a surprised tone.

"The subject didn't come up." he smiled. "But the word is - "cognitive dissonance" - on multiple levels."

"How so?" She said, interested.

"Well," he said, tapping his temple, "Inside here, my brain still has this self-image of being fifty-seven" he said, "and you look like some young hottie, WAY too young for the likes of an old fat guy like me."

"But you're neither old nor fat" she said.

"Not anymore" he agreed. "I actually look younger than you, now" he smiled. "But having a young body - especially one with young male hormones - has another set of problems."

"Huh?" she said, frowning.

Even her frown was pretty, Jason thought to himself.

"Uh." he temporized as he thought of how he could express this in a somewhat polite manner.

"Let's put it this way, Kaley." he said diffidently. "Something came up and I, uh, sometimes need to take matters in hand, you know what I mean?" He felt himself blushing.

She looked puzzled at first, and she had to parse his statement.

A slow grin spread across her face as she understood what he was implying.

Her smile was even more attractive, he decided.

"Wow." she said, "you really are old-fashioned."

Trying to hold on to the tatters of his dignity, he replied almost primly, "I prefer to think of it as trying to remain a gentleman - or at least a poor facsimile of one."

"Yeah" she breathed. "A gentleman." she snorted. "Well," she said, drawing out the word.

He cringed. "Hey, look," he said, his eyes downcast and his tone apologetic, "I'm only human, you know?"

"Yes." she smiled happily and his spirits soared.

"Thing is," he said gamely, "you are, in fact, my supervising officer."

"Yes, I am, aren't I?" she replied.

"Indeed." he said' "I really don't want to start off this new career with an EEO reprimand."

"A reprimand?" she said, obviously puzzled.

"Yes," he said, "I'd expect there are some regulations about sexual harassment and fraternization in this world."

"Fraternization?" she said, obviously puzzled, and then her expression cleared.

"That's right." she said, "You spent almost thirty years in the military." she smiled some more and continued," but the rules are somewhat different in the Federal Civilian side of the house."

"Oh" he said in a small voice.

"And" she continued, but her grin turned feral, "as far as sexual harassment goes," she smiled, "I've often found it more productive just to kick the guy's butt, rather than report him."

"OK" he said, "I can live with that."

"Unless," she said, still grinning evilly, "you're one of those guys that consider getting beaten by a woman as foreplay?"

He grinned back. "Not my style." he said, "but if I inadvertently offend you, please, feel free to kick my butt."

"Or any other convenient body part." she grinned.

Her expression turned serious. "Truly, Jason" she said, "I do find you physically attractive, and scary smart" she said "which, to my mind, makes you more attractive."

"OK" he said "and I find you equally attractive, combining both physical beauty and an amazing intellect."

She laughed warmly. "Well, I've got to say, I have scared off a couple of guys because they said I was too smart for them." she grinned. "Being told you appreciate me for my mind is a refreshing change."

"Thing is," she continued, "Let's not rush things."

"Fair enough." he agreed. "But right now," he smiled, "I think I need a shower, a cold one,"

She smiled back. "Well," she said, "If you make it a warm one, I'll join you."

His expression was dumbfounded.

She thought he looked cute.

"I thought you said..."

"I am a healthy young woman, with physical needs." she said. "But a physical relationship is good for the cardiovascular system and promotes good health." she said briskly.

/|\

A little while later she had her head pillowed on his chest and was running her fingers through his chest hair.

"Wow, Tiger," she said appreciatively, "that was definitely a good physical workout…but now I think we need to shower again."

"Ok" he said happily.

She playfully and lightly slapped him. "And this time, we dry off and get dressed." She said.

"Aww." He said with feigned disappointment. "Can I buy you dinner?"

She smiled widely. "That' she said, wagging her finger at him, "sounds like an excellent idea."

/|\

They went to dinner at a nearby Chinese Buffet.

"First," she said, "merely because we had sex, please don't get all infatuated or clingy." She said briskly… "Although…" she said, eyeing him pensively, "given your mental age, that might not happen."

"So…" he said, " a physical relationship is fine, but you're saying that romance is out of the question?"

"Eh." She said, "not so much out of the question, but I don't expect one." She looked down at her food and poked at it pensively.

"My mom is going through her third divorce, and my father – well – he seems to have a new girlfriend every time I talk to him."

"Oh." He said.

"I've had more than a few boyfriends over the years." She said, 'but they always get bored and move on."

He took her hands and said. "Kaley, look at me."

She looked into his eyes.

"I'm not a fellow that has EVER done a one night stand." He said, "and I've only been with six women in all my life – all fifty-seven years of it."

"So I'm only number seven?' she said with a trace of bitterness. "Lucky seven, is that what you're saying?"

"Lucky Six would be more like it, kid." He said earnestly. "I'm not a guy for casual sex. If I'm not all that interested, I usually find a way to leave, if it's offered."

"So what happened today?" she asked. "You changing your style in your new life?"

"Not at all." He said, leaning forward. "What I'm saying, is, I've always been a one-woman dog, and I don't plan on changing anytime soon."

"What does that mean?" she breathed, looking into his eyes.

"It means, I am yours until you get bored with me and send me away." He replied.

"What if you get bored and leave?" she said.

"I'm stubborn like that." He said softly. "If you don't send me away, then it is a "till death do us part" situation."

"I don't believe in fairy tales like that." She said. "Besides. You hardly know me."

"I know enough, and I like what I know." He said, and he kissed her. She put her hand on the back of his head and returned the kiss.

'Don't make promises you can't keep." She said softly.

"I stopped doing that a long time ago." He replied.

/|\

"Ahem." Said a voice, breaking the moment. They both looked up.

"So, this is the latest guy, Kaley?" asked a dark haired women with glasses and thick Brooklyn accent.

"Hello Melissa." Said Kaley, but there was not much welcome in her voice.

"Bernadette Wolowicz?" said Jason.

Both women looked at him strangely.

"Who's that?" said the women.

"I'm sorry" said Jason. "You just look and sound just like a lady I used to know, Bernadette Rostenkowski Wolowicz, PhD, Microbiology."

"A Doctor of Microbiology?" scoffed the woman. "I wish" she put out her hand. "My name is Melissa Rauch, and I've been a friend of Kaley's since Grade school."

"So how have you been, Melissa?" asked Kaley. Her tone of voice didn't seem to indicate that the friendship seemed to be in good terms at the moment.

Jason returned the handshake. "Jason Sykes," he said, "I'm a friend of Kaley's, I just started work as a lab tech over at the Federal Building."

"Really?" said Melissa. "Are they hiring high school students over there now?"

Jason was a bit surprised at the anger he sensed from Melissa.

"Uh." He temporized. "Not that I noticed." He shrugged. "I got out of the Navy in July – seven years, almost eight, but the Med Board gave me a 30% disability and the "Thanks of a grateful nation."

"Oh, come on, kid." Scoffed Melissa. "Don't try feeding that line of bull to this Marine." She eyeballed him – "if you've got seven years in, I'll…"

"Marine?" said Jason. "I was a Corpsman – 8404 with 3/6 India."

"Sure you were." Scoffed Melissa. "I was an MP."

"5803 or 5811?" asked Jason.

Now it was Melissa's turn to be surprised. "5811 – I went in right after I graduated from high school, on the "two-by-four" program."

"Smart as well as beautiful." Commented Jason. "I'm betting you came back and went to College on the GI Bill, then."

"Actually," she said, "Yes. I'm in the Reserve Unit here in Moperville."

"Going to get your commission?" asked Jason.

"Probably not." Said Melissa, "I'm a Biology teacher at Moperville North High School and I made Lance last year, so I get to take out my frustrations on drill weekends."

"Nice." Said Jason, "Yeah, I graduated High School in three years, and went into the Navy when I was Seventeen. Did Boot and A school at Great Lakes, and then they sent me to 8404 school at Camp Johnson. Spent my eighteenth birthday at Elizabeth City, getting ready to board the USS Iwo Jima and do a Med Cruise with 26 MEU."

"Wow." Said Melissa, her tone was a bit more friendly and respectful. "I got sent out to 3MARDIV after I got out of PI and Tech School."

"Ah, Okinawa" said Jason, "Fond memories of the place." He tilted his head. We might have been out there at the same time." He tilted his head and asked "Camp Butler or Camp Foster?"

"Butler." She said. "97 and 98"

"Sweet deal." Commented Jason. "Ever get up to Tokyo?" he smiled. "I went up to Hardy Barracks in Rappongi for a couple of nights, and did the whole Shibuya-Shinzuku-Akasaka Pub crawl."

"OK" said Melissa, with a look of amazement. "I owe you an apology, Doc." She looked at Kaley "And I owe you an apology, too…and, hell, a compliment." She shook her head, "This one will age well, if he looks this good after doing that much time with the FMF."

Jason laughed with her. "Ah, come on, Lance Corporal, flattery will get you nowhere with this old Seadog – besides, I did some Straight ship board sea time on a bird farm as an 8506 Medical Lab tech."

"Day-amnh." Said Melissa. "You must be some hot stuff."

"Eh." Commented Jason, "Too smart for my own good. I wanted to go back to the Division, so I got talked into going for my 8427 as a SARC with Force Recon."

"Ouch" said Melissa, "that where you got the Medical Board?"

"Naw," said Jason, "made it through the training, but then we did an India Oscar cruise on the Iwo again, did the NEO thing in Liberia." He shook his head ruefully. "Of all the damn luck, I get through all that, then get run over by a drunk Nigerian when we landed at Roberts, just outside Monroeville. Head Injury," he said, tapping his temple. "Fractured skull and TBI."

"Ouch." Winced Melissa, "maybe you could get on with the Navy Reserve here. We've got a BAS unit, so you wouldn't be out in the field."

"Eh" said Jason, "I'm rethinking that whole medical thing. Got the Lab Tech job with the Bureau, and going to school at Moperville State." He shook his head, "I'll lose the disability pension if I go in the Reserves, Lance Corporal."

"Yep, Doc." Agreed Melissa.

Kaley was turning red and looked ready to burst. "WHAT THE HELL are you two talking about!" she exclaimed. "I've been listening to you two spout off nonsense for the last five minutes, and it seems like you are communicating, but it seems to be in some kind of code."

They both laughed at her, and her face turned even more red.

"OK, OK," laughed Melissa, "I'll translate for you, Kaley."

"We just, essentially, interrogated each other, and passed enough information to convince each other of our bona-fides." Put in Jason.

"That WAS an interrogation, wasn't it?" said Melissa in a thoughtful tone. "Nicely done, Doc." She said with admiration.

"But I didn't understand half of it?" wailed Kaley. "What were all those numbers?"

"Military Occupational Skill Codes – or in my case, Navy Enlisted Codes" replied Jason. "For the Marines, it is a four digit number, for the Navy, two letters followed by four numbers."

"Since Doc here was a Corpsman," said Melissa as she waved her hand, "all of his NECs are preceded by the letter HM."

"Which is why I didn't bother to reface them with HM," continued Jason. "But the Navy has so many skill codes that we have to preface them with letters."

"So…" drawled Kaley, "What's an 85-whatever-that-was, and SARC?" she shook her head, "It looked like you impressed the hell out of Melissa when you said that." She shook her head, "and she doesn't impress easily."

"SARC is Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman" said Melissa – "Corpsmen have a reputation for bad-assery – at least some of the ones in the FMF- the Fleet Marine Force do – but Force Recon is the Special Forces of the Marines – and Recon corpsmen are trained to be super-medics, since they might have to do major medical work in the back end of no-where- as well as be tough as the Recon Marines they deploy with."

"Ah." Said Jason. "I'm not all that, Lance Corporal." He shook his head, and looked at Kaley, "But I HAVE delivered babies in thatched huts in the jungle, and set bones, surgically removed bullets, that sort of thing."

"Wow" said Kaley. "And all that stuff about Okinawa?"

Melissa shook her head. "He knows the area, damn my eyes if he doesn't." She looked at Jason. "I never made it up to Tokyo, and now I'm kicking myself for not going when I had the chance."

"My mom was Japanese." Said Jason. "My dad was an Air Force NCO, and when I was little, he was stationed at Yokota Air Base, up by Tokyo." He shook his head, "I still have family out there, so I had some use-it-or-lose-it leave one year, so I got the Old Man to sign off on a thirty day leave, and I hoped Space-A out to Okinawa."

"What's that?" asked Kaley.

"When the military aircraft have empty seats on a plane going somewhere, and it isn't dangerous cargo, they let service members fly for free." Said Melissa.

"It's not as comfortable as flying commercial." Said Jason.

"Indeed" agreed Melissa, "You ride a C-130 Hercules, and the air conditioning system has two settings – Too Darned hot or Arctic Cold Freezing." And she winced, "no sound proofing, so you have to wear ear plugs or you'll go deaf real quick, and the Allen seats are like an old-fashioned folding lawn chair." She rubbed her back in painful memory. "Aluminum tubes strung with canvas webbing straps."

"Can't beat the price." Smiled Jason.

"Well" said Melissa, "they also are on a real flexible schedule."

"That's a polite way t put it." Said Jason. "If they haven't got enough cargo to make it worth going, they cancel the flight."

"Or if the plane breaks – and it often does – the passengers just sit there until the plane is fixed." Said Melissa.

She looked hard at Kaley, then looked at Jason. "Doc," she said, "I've known Kaley for a bunch of years, and I love her like a sister, but I gotta warn you," she screwed up her face, "she goes through guys like water on dry sand."

She looked at Kaley with a stern look. "You better be good to this one, girlfriend." She said. "I'd say this one is a keeper."

She looked at Jason again. "And if she's stupid enough to break up with you, Doc," she said, looking him up and down, "give me a call." She tossed her head dismissively. "You can put your shoes under my bed any day."

"Geeze, Mel," whined Kaley, "could you be any more blatant?"

"Blunt." Said Jason, "Female Marines are blunt, direct, and-to-the-point." He laughed, "They eat all the "shy" and "talking around the bush" out of them at Parris Island – or they don't let them graduate, and send'em home to their mommas as Civilians."

Melissa guffawed at that statement. "You know me too well, Doc."

"She was blunt like that in high school." Said Kaley in a complaining tone. "All the Marines did was make her worse."

"They made me BETTER." Said Melissa confidently, "And those students at Moperville do NOT want to get on my bad side."

"I'll bet." Said Jason admiringly.

Melissa's cell hone chimed and she looked at it. "Oh, crud, I've got to get going." She got up and looked at the pair of them. "Nice seeing you again, Kaley," she said, hugging her friend, "and good meeting you Doc." She said, and turned away but she stopped and looked over her shoulder at Jason. "And don't forget what I said, Doc."

/|\

"Well," said Jason as they sat down again. "Why do I feel like I've just been through a Hurricane?"

"Hurricane Melissa?" laughed Kaley. Then she looked at Jason and her face grew serious. "Are you going to take her up on her offer?" she asked.

"Uh" said Jason, "that would not just be a "no", but a "HELL, no!" he laughed. "She smokes like a freaking chimney."

"THAT'S what you noticed?" said Kaley quizzically.

"Besides," said Jason as he leaned forward, "I told you I'm a one-woman dog." He brought his lips close to hers, and breathed, "Not until you decide to kick me to the curb."

"I love her dearly, but for a time there, I was convinced she hung out with me, just to pick up my boyfriends when they left me."

"Only an extremely stupid man would leave you voluntarily." Whispered Jason, "and it would take a very tough hombre to last long with a woman like her." He said. "I know the type." He shook his head, "I'll bet she's a fine one to talk about running through boyfriends."

"She DOES tend to chew them up and spit them out." Laughed Kaley, as she kissed him. "Rode hard and put away his lips close to hers, and breathed, "Not until you decide to kick me to the curb."

"I love her dearly, but for a time there, I was convinced she hung out with me, just to pick up my boyfriends when they left me."

"Only an extremely stupid man would leave you voluntarily." Whispered Jason, "and it would take a very tough hombre to last long with a woman like her." He said. "I know the type." He shook his head, "I'll bet she's a fine one to talk about running through boyfriends."

"She DOES tend to chew them up and spit them out." Laughed Kaley, as she kissed him. "Rode hard and put away wet" was the description of being with her that I heard from one of our ex-boy friends."

"She is rather well-endowed." Said kaley, looking down at her own shirt.

"You know how to make a stupid man think eight pounds of fat is mind-numbingly attractive?" asked Jason.

Kaley looked at him quizzically and said "No?"

"Put two nipples on it." Replied Jason.

"Brutal." Said Kaley, "but I see your point."

"Yeah" said Jason, as her reached up and caressed her cheek.

"So you'd drop me if I hadn't quit smoking?" she asked.

"I'd never gotten close to you." Said Jason. "You smoked?" he said, running his hands over her face. "Not much and/or not very long." He said as he looked at her face.

"No," she said, reaching up to pull his hand away

"Yeah" said Jason, as her reached up and caressed her cheek.

"So you'd drop me if I hadn't quit smoking?" she asked.

"I'd never have gotten close to you." Said Jason. "You smoked?" he said, running his hands over her face. "Not much and/or not very long." He said as he looked at her face.

"No," she said, reaching up to pull his hand away from her face. "Why?"

"The heat and nicotine in the smoke cause the cheek muscles to degrade and damage the facial skin" replied Jason. "Women who smoke like her either look wrinkled as an old apple by the time they are fifty – or they wind up paying the mortgage off on a plastic surgeon's mansion."

Kaley laughed sadly at the vision. "You're probably right." She opined. "I think I can see what you mean about the skin on her cheeks."

"did you get that habit of touching and ruing people as a medic?" she asked.

"Does it bother you?" he asked.

"I'm just wondering.' She said, "Or are you this clingy and touchy-feely because of initial infatuation."

"No," he said sadly, "People tend to call me stand-offish." He shook his head. "I don't hug people I don't care deeply about." He said.

"I don't even like to shake hands," he said, "except to be polite."

"You've hardly let go of me all afternoon and evening." Said Kaley.

"Right now," he said steadily, "the grand total of all the humans on this world is somewhere over six billion." He shook his head. "The total population of this world that I want to touch and hold, as of right now?" he asked. "Consists of you, and you only."

"My parents were already dead in that other world, and my brother, my son, their wives, my grandkids, the stepchildren and their grandkids – they are still back there in that other place." He said.

"From the time I got here, until today," he said, looking into her eyes, "I've been alone." His eyes were unblinking. "Now I have someone to care about."

His words were soft, but firm. "Thing is, do I have someone that cares about me?"

"Yes." She said, surprised with her own feeling, "as long as you want me."

"And if that is till-death-do-us-part?" he asked.

She wondered about the firm conviction that was growing in her heart. "Yes," she whispered, "yes, I think, for the first time in my life, I can honestly say yes to that question."

"Good." He said, and he kissed her long and deeply, and she responded in kind.

"Ahem" said the Chinese waiter. "Much as I like to see people in love, if you done eating food, perhaps you two should, how they say? – get a room?"

They both laughed happily. "Yes," said Jason, "very good advice. Thank you, sir."

Chapter 07 The Theory and Practice of Magic

_One More Authorial Note; I like useful comments and critique! Especially when they are not "anonymous"!_

_This is my first real attempt to write a romance scene, and I am nervous about posting this._

_Comments – even negative ones, as long as they are of the "this is what I don't like and here's why" variety, are greatly appreciated._

_Good, bad, ugly, crazy – we are here to practice our writing styles. I could REALLY use some feedback here, folks…pretty please?_


	7. Chapter 07 The Practice of Magic

Chapter 07 The Theory and Practice of Magic

When they got back to their apartments, Jason stopped into his room to grab some clean clothes before heading over to Kaley's apartment.

He took a second to look at his spell book, but a sly grin slowly spread across his face. "THAT'S one I never heard of." He said to himself, "and more than a little strange, but good."

/|\

Kaley was registered as a Student at Moperville State, but she still had some duties that required her to come to the Federal Building.

She had finished up her paperwork for the week, and was headed out to grab some lunch before going to class, when she heard a familiar voice. "Kaley, I haven't seen you in awhile, how have you been?"

She turned to see her friend Jamie McKall coming across the rotunda. "Hey Jamie, I was just going to lunch. Want to go together?"

"Sure!" exclaimed Jamie. "How about that Thai Place over on Yellowstone?"

"Sounds good." Agreed Kaley, "but I'm done here for the day, and I have to get to the Moperville Campus for a meeting."

"I'll meet you over there." Said Jamie.

/|\

When they sat down at the table, Jamie asked, "So what's up? I haven't seen you at the Federal Building much?"

"I'm on a long-term assignment." Said Kaley, "essentially, body-guard duty for a guy in Witness Protection."

"Huh?" said Jamie, "Did you move from Special Investigations?"

"No" frowned Kaley, "and that's all I can say in a non-secure location." 

"Got it" said Jamie. "So, what else is going on?" she looked at Kaley. "You seem to be happy, you're almost glowing. New boyfriend?"

"Uh, yeah, a matter of fact." Smiled Kaley, "and he's great."

"Uh-huh." Said Jamie, "I've heard this story before, girlfriend. How long has it been, and how close are you to breaking up with him?"

"Why does everyone assume I'm going to break up with him right away?" demanded Kaley. "Melissa said the same thing."

"Uh," smiled Jamie, "Because we know you?" she smiled. "What's he like? Got pictures?"

"Uh, sure." Said Kaley, digging out her cell phone.

"Not bad" said Jamie, "but isn't he a bit, uh, young?"

"And everybody says THAT, too." Exclaimed Kaley, "he's 24, a combat veteran with a string of medals, and a disabled veteran at that."

"Geeze" said Jamie, "looking at the pictures again. "Whatever happened didn't seem to mark him too bad."

"Traumatic brain injury." Said Kaley, "and he's got some ugly scars when he takes his shirt off."

"OK" said Jamie with a smile, "so where's the pictures with his shirt off?"

"Yeah" said Kaley, "like I'm going to show THOSE to you."

"So when do I get to meet him?" said Jamie.

"I dunno" teased Kaley, "maybe never."

"What!" exclaimed Jamie, "I'm not good enough to meet your good-looking boyfriend?"

"No," replied Kaley, "You're too good looking to be introduced to my good looking boyfriend."

"Really?" said Jamie with arched brows. "A bit anxious about this relationship, are we?"

"Kind of" admitted Kaley. "He's super smart, and he's a good cook – he's got day classes at Moperville State, and I'm taking evening classes for my Master's, but he almost always cooks dinner for me when I have late classes."

"Whoa?" exclaimed Jamie. "You're living together in you dinky little apartment?"

"Actually, no" admitted Kaley. "He's got an apartment down the hall."

"Wow." Said Jamie, "the best of both worlds. You both get your space, but it's almost like living together."

"Truth" sighed Kaley. "Jason says if we ever get a house, we should get one big enough so that we both have our own home offices."

"You're thinking about a house?" snorted Jamie, and then she looked at the dream-like expression on her normally cynical friend's face.

"Don't tell me you think this guy is THE one?"

"He might be, Jamie." Sighed Kaley, "he seems almost too good to be true."

'Darn, girl." Said Jamie, "now I REALLY need to meet this guy."

/|\

After lunch, Jamie turned to Kaley and said, "I need to go make a deposit at the bank, Kaley, but it's been good seeing you again."

Kaley watched her friend walk over to the bank, which was next to the restaurant, then went to her car.

Kaley walked over to her car, but then her cell phone rang as she was getting in. it was just one of the other agents, asking about a detail in one of the cases they were working on, when she heard the sound of gunfire.

She looked up to see people running out of the bank. She spoke to the agent quickly. "Joe, call 911. Shots fired at Keystone Bank, corner of University and Yellowstone."

"Roger," said Joe, "Readback, shots fired at Keystone Bank, corner of University and Yellowstone."

"Got it" said Kaley, as she reached into her purse and got out the 10mm Sig Sauer. "I am responding at this time."

"Be careful, Kaley."

"Always careful, Joe" she replied. "Going to live to collect my retirement." She said as she folded the phone closed and ran to the bank.

Inside the bank, there was pandemonium. The robber was obviously nervous. He had shot the security guard who lay in a spreading pool of blood, but somebody had hit the emergency button. Sheets of bulletproof glass fell out of the ceiling, sealing off the tellers and the money.

Kaley's pistol came up. "Freeze!" she shouted, "FBI! Drop the weapon!"

He turned and Kaley saw the blink of the silly little .38 snub nose as he shot from the hip.

She took a modified Weaver stance and fired the Mozambique pattern – two shots quickly, and when he didn't fall down, a third one. He crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut, and fell to the floor.

But he'd been incredibly good, or incredibly lucky. Kaley felt sharp pain in her chest, and suddenly she was on the floor and looking up at the ceiling.

"Why am I down here?" she wondered to herself.

/|\

Jason was headed across the campus, going to the library. He had a two hour break until his next class, but the scream in his head was deafening. He looked around him, but nobody else seemed to have noticed.

It seemed to have come from – THERE! – a blinking will-o-the-wisp, visible even in the bright sunshine, led him through the crowd – and apparently, nobody else could see it.

He slung his back pack straps over both shoulders, and ran, following the wisp.

He had no idea what had happened, or what he was heading into, but it had sounded like Kaley's scream – and then – nothing but the wisp.

He ran across the campus like a cross-country runner…like he was back in the military, running the "Mogadishu Mile".

The wisp led him off campus, across University Street, and into the Keystone Bank.

Kaley was on the floor, in a pool of blood, a bloody froth on her lips. He didn't need to open her shirt to recognize a sucking chest wound, but he had to get at the wound to seal it before her lung collapsed.

There was a woman next to her, crying and calling her name, but he ignored her. "Kaley, it's me, Jason." He said.

She turned her head to look at him, and tried to speak, but she couldn't get anything out except that horrible frothy bright red lung blood.

"Panic is when your body is someplace your mind has not prepared you to be." He recited as he unslung his pack. "I've been here before."

He pulled out his heavy duty cut-down scissors, and cut away Kaley's shirt and bra, to expose the wound. He felt underneath her – no exit wound. That was both good and bad. No exit wound meant one less wound to seal – but it also left a chunk of lead inside her.

He pulled out a battle dressing and a packet of sterile petroleum gel. He opened the bandage carefully, so as not to contaminate the sterile interior, and smeared the contents of the petroleum jelly onto it.

He pressed the plastic down on the wound, and smiled as Kaley immediately began to breathe easier. He tied off the dressing, tipping her on her right side to make sure the internal bleeding would drain to that part of the lung cavity, and not press on her heart.

Now, as he touched her skin, he realized that he had the power to sense what was wrong – and the power to fix some of it. He could –sense!- the damage to her lung the damage to her chest, and he could heal the lung. He could have repaired her totally, but he decided that it might attract too much attention.

She was out of danger, the ambulances MUST have been called, and he looked at the woman that was staring at him, and sniffling back tears. She had been saying something, but he had not been paying attention.

"Hey" he said, "I need you to take my place over here and hold her on her right side until the EMTs get here, OK?" The women looked at him with eyes as wide as saucers. He wasn't sure she even comprehended what he was saying.

He tried again. "Look, her name is Kaley, and she's my fiancée, OK?" he said. "I think she's out of immediate danger right now, but I need to see if I can help the security guard, OK?"

The woman blinked and said "Are you Jason?"

"We can do proper introductions, later, OK?" said Jason. "Just hold her in this position, OK?"

She scuttled over and held Kaley in position.

"Good Girl" he said, "Hold her just like that."

As he stood up, a man in a suit ran up. "I'm the Branch Manager, and you look like you know what needs to be done. How can I help?"

"OK" said Jason, scanning the room. "First, secure the perp over there – I assume it's the perp, right? – and make sure nobody touches the body or the weapon, OK?"

The man nodded, "OK, make sure police and EMS are called, and make sure they know we have two wounded here, OK?"

"I've already called and let them know."

"Good" said Jason, "OK, let me see if I can do anything for your security guard."

Jason could see that this would be much tougher. A lot more blood had leaked out of this guy, but he seemed to be tough – he was still alive.

Jason knelt down next to the man, and did his initial check. Frothing bright red blood – this gunman had a thing for center-of-mass, didn't he? Two bullet wounds, left chest.

Jason looked at a woman standing next to him. "Hey, I'm out of large dressings here, ma'm" he said, "ask one of the women who work here if they have any tampons or sanitary napkins."

"What?" she said, blinking.

"Tampons or sanitary pads" he repeated, "they stop bleeding, you know?"

"Right" she said.

Having this healing magic DID make his job easier. Jason could see the man's insides as well – or better!- than a CAT scan. Both bullets had fragmented inside the chest, causing trauma instead of an exit wound.

The trouble was, one of the fragments had nicked the cardiac artery, causing the pericardium – the membrane that surrounds the heart - to fill with blood, and threatening to cause a cardiac tamponade – basically, putting too much pressure on the heart muscle for it to pump blood.

The man might have died with Jason not knowing what was happening. But since he could fix this, he did.

"Holy #$!" said a woman standing next too him. "Are your hands glowing?"

Jason ignored her as he healed the nicked artery and opened a space in the pericardium to allow the bleeding to drain into the chest cavity. Not a fantastic solution, but one the surgeons could deal with at the hospital.

Now, he cut away the guard's uniform shirt. The radio was saying something – but Jason set it aside, as he had more important things to do right now.

The woman standing next to him had some sanitary maxipads.

"Fan-freaking-tastic, M'am!" Jason enthused as he took them from her. "You may have had a big chunk of saving this guy's life."

Again, he opened the packages carefully. He inserted a tampon in each bullet hold to pack the wound, then opened the maxi pads, weren't entirely sterile, but there was no reason to take any chances here. He had some more packets of petroleum jelly, and he again smeared them on the plastic to make an airtight seal.

Once again, he reached into his backpack, and realized that he had used his roll of gauze and forgotten to replace it.

"M'am?" he said to the woman who had brought him the supplies, "I hate to bother you again, but could you check and see if anybody has some panty hose I can orrow?"

"Panty hose?" asked the woman with a quizzical look.

"I need some thing stretchy to hold the dressing in place while they transport him." Jason said. "I'd normally use something like Kerlix ™ gauze or a four-tailed battle dressing, like I used on Kaley, but I don't have any left for him."

"Actually," said the woman, "I went out at lunch time and bought a couple of pairs today. Let me get them."

When she brought them back, Jason looked at the packages and chuckled. "Queen-size, really?"

The woman bristled automatically. "You have a problem with that?"

"No, no" laughed Jason, "wouldn't dream of it. It's just that you gave me the punch line to a military joke here – Queen size panty hose, tampons and maxi-pads. All we need is some large, unlubricated condoms with reservoir tips…"

"What?" she said, clearly confused.

"Sorry, M'am" he said, "I'm babbling. I PROMISE you, I will come back and tell you the rest of the joke, you'll like it – I think."

"OK" she said, somewhat mollified, as Jason opened the packs and began tying the panty hose around the man's chest to hold the dressings in place. He looked up at the woman.

"In this case, the larger the better, M'am, you see?" he said as he expertly tied off the legs, making a tight seal on the dressings. "I'd need a couple of pairs tied together, if you'd handed me petite size."

Once again, he asked a by-stander to hold the man on his right side, to keep the blood draining away from the heart.

Then, he tried to stand up. He almost fell – he would have, except bystanders grabbed him to keep him from falling. He had used a lot of magic energy on these two.

He picked up the radio, which was making urgent sounding noises that he couldn't make out. "All units, all units!" he said firmly, "Mayday, mayday, mayday, Clear this Net immediately!"

The radio fell silent, and he said, "Officer down at Keystone Bank, corner of Yellowstone and University. I have a 10-15, suspect is kilo-India-Alfa." He fell back to his military communications protocol. "I have two Amcit whiskey-india-alfa, repeat, two Amcit whiskey-india-alfa, both in critical condition with sucking chest wounds and internal bleeding. Area appears clear of hostiles, but, I repeat, patients have critical wounds, how copy?"

"Who is this?" demanded the radio.

"My call sign used to be Panda two-three-six, but I am just a former corpsman that is trying to patch up your guy and the FBI agent who got shot here. How about you roll some ambulances and police to this location and we can talk at length, but later?"

"Roger that, Panda236, we have EMS and LEO headed your way."

"Roger that," said Jason, and he could hear the sirens in the distance.

"OK, net, I can hear sirens in the distance, radio is on, but I am going to check these patients until I hand them over to EMS."

"Roger, Panda236 and – thanks."

"Sure thing, Control. This day was getting boring anyway. Panda236 clear."

The ambulances came and got both Kaley and the Security Guard on their way to Moperville Memorial.

Jamie came up to Jason and said, "Hi, I'm Jamie McKall. I'm a friend of Kaley. Do you want to ride with me to the hospital?"

"Yes." Said Jason, and he stuck out his hand, then pulled it back as he realized he was drenched in blood. "Sorry, I'm a bit messy."

"Don't worry about it." Said Jamie. "Let's go."

"There's a washroom over here." Said the Branch Manager.

"Good, let me clean up so I don't mess up your car, Miss Jamie." Said Jason.

The Branch manager followed Jason into the Men's Room. "First up, thank you for what you did out there." He stated.

Jason looked up from where he was scrubbing congealing blood from his face.

"No need for thanks, it is what I've been doing all my adult life." He said, "I was a Navy Corpsman up until this summer."

"There's already news media out front." Stated the manager. "Would you like to use the back exit – if you give me your contact data, I will make sure the Police can get in touch with you."

"Sure thing," said Jason, as he jotted down his name, address and cell number on a sheet of paper from his notebook. "And they'll probably be at the hospital, anyway."

"Yes," said the Manager, "but Carol Brown's one of the reporters out front. She can be a real pain at times"

'Carol Brown?" winced Jason, "I CERTAINLY do not want to see her." He looked at the branch manager, "In fact, I'd prefer if the media do not get my name."

"Uh?" said the Manager, "Legal problems?"

"More like, I don't need publicity problems, Sir." Said Jason. "I don't care if the Police get my identity – I WANT to work with them. Thing is," he said, looking the branch manager in the eyes, "ever hear of something called the Witness and Informant's Protection Program?"

"Ah" said the Manager, with a glint in his eyes, "I get it." He shook his head, "Who was that masked man?"

"Thanks." Said Jason.


	8. Chapter 08 Dancing with the Truth

Chapter 08 Dancing with the Truth

In the car, Jamie stole a glance sideways at Jason. "Sooo – how long have you known Kaley?"

"Hmm…let's just say, I've known about Kaley for several years – but we've only just known each other personally for about a month…and closely for about a week."

"You told me you were her fiancée – but she said "new boyfriend" at lunch."

"You're sharp, Jamie McKall, I'll give you that." He scratched his wet hair. "Ever meet somebody and you were just certain that THIS was the one?"

"Heh" replied Jamie. "Some people call me a romance detective. I will admit, I never saw Kaley with that look in her eyes before…and I've known her a long time." She paused as she accelerated through a Yellow Light. "Speaking of which, what do you mean, you've known of her for several years?"

"You do know she's an FBI agent, right?"

"Of Course. I'm a receptionist at the Federal Building."

Jason snapped his fingers, "I'm sorry, I should have recognized you. I THOUGHT you looked somewhat familiar, but I didn't know why – and I should have."

"No problem, Jason – although I'm a little disgruntled. Most men find me rather memorable." Smiled Jamie. "Although maybe you weren't looking at my face."

"uh." Said Jason, clearly uncomfortable.

"I was working some items that ran into military intelligence, and traced back to items Stateside. So I have read reports where she was a team member, and I've seen pictures of her."

"Is THAT why you came to Moperville?" asked Jamie.

"Eh…" sighed Jason. "It certainly wasn't my plan, but that is how it worked out."

"Wait," said Jamie, "Kaley said you were a Veteran, and critically injured last summer with a brain injury. You were at the VA here?"

"Yes." Said Jason. "_The best lie is the one that the person you are lying to makes up for themselves."_ He said to himself.

"Something like that," he said, "and when I got out of the hospital – well, my parents are gone, so there was no reason to go home – so I stayed here."

"No "girl you left behind you"? said Jamie.

"No," said Jason, "she decided another guy – a civilian – was a better choice than a guy in Special Operations." He shrugged, "can't say she was that far from wrong. So…Moperville seemed like a fresh start for me."

"Wow" said Jamie. "So you come home from combat, a banged up veteran, and we're on the way to the hospital because your girlfriend got shot."

"She'll pull through fine." Said Jason confidently. "I've seen enough sucking chest wounds to know pretty much who will pull through and who won't." he shook his head. "How sad is that?"

"I'd say Kaley was lucky you showed up." Said Jamie. "Speaking of which, why did you show up?"

"Pure chance" lied Jason. "I was between classes over at the University, and I was going for a burger over at What-a-Burger, when I heard the gunfire."

"Some people would run AWAY from gunfire." Observed Jamie, as she adroitly pulled through another yellow light as it turned red.

"Hey, run to the sound of the guns and listen for "Corpsman up" is pretty much what my job was…up until a few months ago." Sighed Jason.  
/|\

At the hospital, they sat in the waiting room of the Surgery Unit, waiting for word. The Security Guard, whose name was Joe Bauder – and Kaley, had been taken straight from the ER to surgery.

A man in green scrubs came out of the double doors and looked down the hallway. Jason snapped out of the chair and stood at attention. "What is the word, Sir?" he asked.

The surgeon walked down to Jason and looked at him for a second. "SEAL Corpsman or Recon?" he asked.

"SARC, sir." Said Jason.

"At ease, lad, we're both civilians these days." Laughed the Doctor, "but I recognized the technique." He chuckled. "When I saw those maxi pads and tampons, I knew there was a Special Operations Corpsman involved."

"How is Kaley, sir?" asked Jamie, "and that other guy – Officer Bauder."

"I'd say," said the doctor gravely, "they got lucky as hell. The gunman shot them, but in the least critical places he COULD have shot them. A millimeter the wrong way, and they would have bled out before they would have got here." He looked at Jason – "and even so, you did some damned fine work, lad." He shook his head. "You identified the problems and got the initial assessment before EMS got there – you saved some critical time for them."

"When can we see them, Sir?" asked Jason.

"Are you family?" asked the doctor.

"I'm Kaley's fiancée," said Jason, "and this is Kaley's cousin, Jamie McKall."

"Her parents are divorced and both of them moved out of town." Put in Jamie. "We're as close as she has to family here."

"I'm only concerned with Officer Bauder on a professional basis." Said Jason. "But I saw the "Globe and Anchor" tattoo on his chest. I just wanted to let him know that a Corpsman was his first responder, you know?"

"We do take care of our own – even after we're out, don't we?" laughed the Surgeon. "A wounded Marine veteran goes down with a gunshot wound, and a former Corpsman patches him up and sends him to a former Navy Surgeon to dig the bullets out."

"Yes Sir." Agreed Jason.

"You should be able to see Miss Cuoco in a few hours." Said the Surgeon. "She'll be in Intensive Care for a few days, so will Officer Bauder, but I fully expect them to pull through OK."

"Thank you sir." Said Jason.

The surgeon put out his hand. "McCoy," he said, "Thomas McCoy." He grimaced. "But everybody calls me "Bones", for some obscure reason."

"Understand, Sir," laughed Jason.

"I'm a commander in the Reserve Unit here in town." Said Dr. McCoy. "We have a Battalion Aid Station here, and a pretty good group, if I do say so myself."

"I'm medically disqualified, Sir" said Jason, "or I'd be interested. "Traumatic Brain Injury" – one concussion too many."

"yuck." Said the Surgeon. "Pity, it looks like you'd be a good addition to the team."

The doors opened at the end of the hall. "Doctor?" called a woman in scrubs. "No rest for the wicked." Said Dr. McCoy. "We had a two-car crash on the interstate, and I need to do some chest-cracking for rib fragments."

"I will leave you to that, sir." Said Jason. "Thank you again."

/||\  
The two sat down again. "So what was all that?"

"All what?" asked Jason.

"I only understood about one word in five of that conversation." Complained Jamie.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" asked Jason.

Suddenly, a woman came through the doors of the surgical waiting area, followed by a cameraman. They were followed by a woman shouting, "Miss Brown, you can't go in there! I'm calling Security!"

The Blonde woman ignored her. She thrust the microphone in Jason's face. "Young man, are you the mysterious stranger, known only as Panda236, who performed first aid on the two gunshot victims?"

"Say what?" said Jason. "This is a hospital waiting room, and there are critically injured patients through those doors!" he exclaimed, pointing at the door to the surgical Unit. "You can't be in here like that!"

"Are you, or are you not the person who was at the Keystone Bank, performing first aid with tampons, maxi pads and panty hose?"

"Lady, I don't care if you are the Angel of Communication, get out of this waiting room!" Jason exclaimed.

At that point, hospital security arrived, and the nosy reporter and her cameraman were unceremoniously taken away.  
/\

A little while later, Mr. Verres showed up.

"Sir!" said Jason, again standing at attention.

"Son, that is somewhat disconcerting. You're out of the military, now."

"Yes, sir, Mr. Verres." Jason said.

"Take a walk with me, both of you, I have found a quiet office where we can talk securely."

When they sat down in the conference room, Jason and Jamie both pulled out sheets of paper and handed them to Mr. Verres.

"We wrote up the incident reports as soon as we got here, and without discussing it between ourselves." said Jason.

Mr. Verres looked at Jamie. "Ms McKall, I have your report, but I want you to tell me in your own words what happened."

She started in a business like fashion. "Agent Cuoco and I had lunch at the Taste of Bangkok restaurant on University Street, Sir. We had driven in separate cars, and Ka- Agent Cuoco said she had a meeting at the University. She went to her car, and I went into the bank to make a deposit before I returned to work."

She paused, and Mr. Verres said, "Go on."

There was a catch in her voice as she said, "I was in line for the tellers, when I heard that man shouting something - I don't know what he was yelling about. I saw the Security Guard start to approach him, and then he pulled out a gun and fired twice, knocking down the guard."

She took a deep breath and continued. "The alarm bells went off, and the fellow was shouting incoherently, and waving the pistol around. I - and most everyone else, hit the floor. I think he fired two shots into the ceiling. "

She paused again and took a deep breath, almost a sob, and continued, "Then Kaley came in, yelled "FBI, put down the weapon" and she already had her weapon out. He turned around and fired at her, abnd she fired - three times, I think - and he fell down, but so did she. I went to her, but - sir - I panicked and forgot all my first aid training.,"

"You're a receptionist, Miss McKall, not a Field Agent." said Mr. Verres gently. "It happens."

"That's when Jason - Mr Sykes - showed up and started doing first aid, Sir."

"OK, so tell me what happened, Mr. Sykes." said Mr. Verres.

Jason looked at Jamie, then at Mr. Verres. "Is Miss McKall cleared to know about Special Investigations, Sir?"

"I'm not cleared to know about the fact that you guys investigate magic - and that some of you are wizards." said Jamie. "Just because I've got big - uh - mammary glands - does not make me brainless."

Mr. Verres laughed. "Thank you, Miss McKall, I was actually working on getting you cleared for our section anyway, so you might as well start now."

Jason took a deep breath, "Sir, I was in front of Norton Hall,I had just gotten out of my differential equations lecture, and hada two hour break to my Quantum Physics Lecture, when I distinctly heard Kaley scream."

"Norton Hall?" said Mr. Verres, with an air of puzzlement. "That's almost a mile away from the bank."

"Yes sir." Said Jason, "Moreover, no one else around me appeared to hear it…but there was also a blinking all of yellow light in front of me, and it appeared to be leading me somewhere…"

"I thought you told me you were at What-a-Burger." accused Jamie.

"And I didn't know you had clearance for this type of information, when I told you that." Said Jason in a steady tone.

"Amazing." Said Mr. Verres. "A telepathic call for help, as well as a will-o-wisp to guide you – you are definitely gaining some interesting abilities, Jason."

"When I got to the bank, the perp was already down, so I immediately began administering first aid to the victims."

"Those were some pretty daunting injuries." Observed Mr. Verres.

"Eh," shrugged Jason, "You forget what I used to be." He said, waving his hand dismissively. "Not the first time I saw gun shot wound trauma, nor my first pneumothorax cases, either." He laughed shakily, "and they were on a nice clean marble floor, not a muddy jungle trail."

"Maxi-pads and panty hose?" said Mr. Verres dryly, "Where did you come up with that?"

Jason laughed. "Field expedient materials, Sir. I was trained to operate in the back of nowhere, with lousy logistical support." He smiled. "Heck, sir, I had an intercath and sterile tubing in the bag – if I'd felt it was necessary, I could have initiated closed chest drainage."

"Really?" said Mr. Verres in an interested tone.

"What is "closed chest drainage?" said Jamie.

"A technique to drain the blood out of the thoracic cavity without letting air in, so that the lung can re-inflate on it's own." Said Jason. "Otherwise, the blood fills the thoracic space, the lungs are squeezed flat, and the patient, essentially, drowns in their own blood."

"Ugh." Frowned Jamie.

"You forget, Sir, I can now visualize the internal organs as well as any CAT scan I've ever seen – and I can seal holes in the lungs and blood vessels."

"Excellent" said Mr. Verres, "I knew you could heal yourself, but I didn't know you could do it for others."

"It takes a lot of power," said Jason, "but I can do it…I wasn't sure how much I'd need for the Security Guard, so I made sure Kaley was safe, then I went over to help him."

"I thought you usually went after the most seriously wounded first." Said Mr. Verres. "Or did your personal connection with Agent Cuoco over ride your professional judgment?"

"To some extent, Sir, guilty as charged" said Jason with chagrin, "but, actually, Agent Cuoco was more seriously injured – not only had the bullet punctured her lung, but it had also nicked her pulmonary artery – it was not completely holed, or she would have bled out before I got there – but she lost quite a lot of blood into her thoracic cavity from that."

He shrugged. "Despite the fact that Officer Bauder appeared more seriously injured, had I gone to him first, Agent Cuoco, most likely would have exsanguinated – bled out – before I got him stabilized."

Jason shrugged. "It was probably also a matter of triage – in the military, we tend to treat the lightly wounded first, and return them to the fight, then the moderately wounded – because we have half a chance of saving them – and the "train wrecks" – the really seriously injured – we treat last, because we might save two or three people who might otherwise die, while we are trying to treat a critically wounded person."

Jason stared intently at Mr. Verres. "More to the point, Sir, what can you tell me about the shooter?"

Mr. Verres was visibly startled. "What?"

"This guy was shooting a .38 snub nose, and I saw the weapon, it was a cheap knock-off, rusty, and when the policeman picked it up, the cylinder rattled. No WAY should the best marksman in the world be able to make a good shot with that P-O-S. From what Miss McKall said, he was also babbling incoherently."

Jason shook his head in wonder. "Even so, he managed to make three darn near killing wounds – when he should not have been able to hit the broad side of a barn from that range. Heck, the weapon should have blown up in his hand."

"Good point" mused Mr. Verres.

"I've shot a similar pistol to that, and I had enough trouble trying to qualify on a "thousand inch" range under excellent conditions." Said Jason. "The fact that this guy made such incredible hits on his targets under such lousy conditions - implies either fantastic amounts of luck or some type of magical aid to him." Jason shrugged. "Remember that incident with that fellow Dex and the flame monsters that he summoned?"

"I will order the field agents to check up on that detail." Promised Mr. Verres.

/|\

Kaley was out of surgery, but she had drainage tubes inserted in both lungs, and had a tracheotomy and a Byrd Respirator to assist her breathing reflex.

"We're going to keep her heavily sedated for at least 48 hours, to keep her from moving two much and disturbing the repairs." Stated the ICU nurse. "You might as well go home, Sir."

"I'm going to just sit with her a few minutes, M'am."

"It's better that you just go home." Insisted the nurse. "We don't like non-medical people near critical patients."

"M'am, up until a few months ago, I was an Independent Duty Corpsman in the Navy. I have inserted closed chest drainage tubes, done tracheotomies, and I have instructed others on how to do the procedures correctly." Stated Jason evenly. "I think that I can sit with my fiancée without disturbing her medical equipment."

"uh." Said the nurse, noting the fires simmering in his eyes. "Please be careful."

/|\

Kaley was floating in an empty void, without sensation – neither warm nor cold, it was not just dark – but there was no light at all.

Suddenly there was a spot of light in her pocket universe, and she saw it approaching.

"Hello Kaley," said the voice, and she realized it was Jason.

"Jason!" she shouted, "what happened to me?"

"You're in the ICU at Moperville Memorial." Said the ball of light with Jason's voice. "You are under heavy sedation, because they don't want you to move in your sleep and disturb the surgeon's fine work."

"How are you talking to me?" she said. "Or am I just Hallucinating all this?"

"No," laughed Jason, "you are not hallucinating me from sensory deprivation."

His familiar chuckle made her feel better.

"My magic allows me to communicate directly with you, babe," he stated, "and I have recharged a bit – let's do a little bit more work on you, so you can get out of here faster."

"Sounds good, Babe." She said. "What do I need to do?"

"Just hang on a bit and let me do my work." Said Jason, "Trust me."

"I do, Honey."

Jason used his astral projection to check her body. Actually, the surgeon had done an excellent job. What Jason did do, however, was initiate production of a clot lysing enzyme in Kaley's body, so that the clotted blood in her chest cavity would drain faster.

He also made some adjustments to the repair mechanisms in her body to enhance healing.

"OK, babe." He said after awhile, "that's about all I can do for today."

"Yes dear." She replied.

"Stay still, and just let you body heal, OK?"

"Yes, I will." Replied Kaley.

/||\

Jason left the cubicle that Kaley was in, and moved to the adjacent one, where Joe laid, also in a drug coma to prevent movement.

Joe was floating in nothingness also, when the glowing ball with Jason's voice called to him.

"Who are you?" said Joe. "Are you an Angel?"

"Heh." Said Jason. "C'mon Joe, you were a Marine – I saw the Globe and Anchor tattoo on your chest. Unless you were one HELL of a lot different than most Marines I know, there is no reason any angels would be talking to you."

"Fair enough." Joe chuckled. "So who are you?"

"Name's Jason Sykes," said the ball of light. "I used to be a Corpsman, and my team name was Panda236."

"Eh" said Joe, "Figures I'd die and be talking to a Corpsman instead of an angel or devil."

"You ain't dead yet, Gyrene." Stated Joe. "You've still got things to do in this life."

"Oh." Said Joe. "My wife is going to be pissed at me. We were supposed to be going to visit her parents this weekend."

Jason guffawed. "Trust a Marine to find something good about being shot – you don't have to visit the in-laws this weekend."

Joe chuckled. "Well, I suppose there's that. So," he said, "where am I?"

"You're in heavy sedation at the ICU in Moperville Memorial." Said Jason. "You took two bullets to the chest, sucking chest wound in both lungs, a nick to your ascending aorta – you were all sorts of messed up."

"Durn" said Joe. "That's worse than I ever got in 24 years in the Corps. Safe Civilian life, my aching butt!" he exclaimed.

"You're in sedation so that you don't move and tear you stitches or kink the drainage tubes." Jason told him. "Hang in there, they'll probably have your chest drained enough for you to breathe on your own in a day or so."

"OK Doc." Said Joe. "You're the boss."

"Not here I ain't." said Jason. "But your surgeon is a Navy Doc – a Commander in the Reserves…and he's done Fleet Marine Force Time."

"Heh" Joe laughed. "Sounds good to me."

"You just lay here, rest and get better, OK Jarhead?"

"Roger that, Doc. Will Comply" answered Joe.

"Oh, and Joe?" said Jason. "Don't try to tell anybody I talked to you while you were in a coma. They'll think you were hallucinating and hold you for more observation."

"How are you communicating with me, Doc?" asked Joe.

"Beats the hell out of me, dude…but it works."

Joe laughed. "Good Enough for me, Doc, Good enough for me. Stop by and see me when I'm awake."

"Roger that." Said Jason. "I'm out of here before the nurses chase me out, OK?"

_Authorial Note – Useful Critique keeps the writing process going, folks. Please?_


End file.
